'Gangseo Crushing Defeat' Deepens Internal Conflict in Justice Party... "Resign Leadership" Demands Surge

Party Leadership Faces Calls to Resign After By-Election Defeat
Lee Jeong-mi Refuses to Step Down... "Will Maintain System Until Reestablishment"

The Justice Party is experiencing internal turmoil after recording a low vote share in the 1% range in the by-election for the mayor of Gangseo District, Seoul, held on the 11th. Within the party, voices are pouring out demanding that Representative Lee Jeong-mi and the leadership take responsibility for the defeat and resign. On the other hand, Representative Lee dismissed calls for resignation, stating that the current system will be maintained until the party convention for ‘Innovative Reestablishment’ scheduled for the 19th of next month.

In the Gangseo District mayoral by-election held on the 11th, the Justice Party fielded candidate Kwon Su-jeong, who received 1.83% of the vote (3rd place). This was only 0.45 percentage points behind Kwon Hye-in of the Progressive Party, who came in 4th.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

With the general election about half a year away next year, the party has received its worst results, intensifying calls for accountability within the party. Kim Chang-in, leader of the Youth Justice Party, held a press conference at the National Assembly on the afternoon of the 16th and declared his resignation as leader, stating, “The greatest responsibility for the Gangseo District mayoral by-election lies with the Lee Jeong-mi leadership,” and added, “Starting with the resignation of the leadership, the direction of the Justice Party’s reestablishment and the promotion of a new party must be fundamentally changed.”

The internal political group ‘Third Power,’ led by lawmakers Ryu Ho-jeong and Jang Hye-young, also urged the party leadership to resign. In a statement released the same day, they said, “As Representative Lee Jeong-mi herself admitted, the cause of the election defeat lies with Lee Jeong-mi and the leadership,” and argued, “The Lee Jeong-mi leadership must take responsibility for the election defeat and hand over party authority to an emergency committee that will clarify the new party founding line.”

The ‘Alternative New Party Members’ group, which has advocated for expanding the third political bloc within the party, also released a statement on the same day. They emphasized, “We must reflect on whether it was not the high wall of the Justice Party trapped in inertia, rather than the high wall of two-party politics,” and stressed, “Clear political responsibility and fundamental policy shifts are inevitable.”

Representative Lee stated her position to maintain the party system until the reestablishment process scheduled for the 19th of next month is completed. On the morning of the 17th, she appeared on SBS Radio and said, “It is not important that I resign, but rather that the party as a whole needs to consider how to overcome this crisis moving forward.”

Regarding the innovative reestablishment, Representative Lee said, “I do not agree with the criticism that it is all about self-strengthening from start to finish. Self-strengthening is the starting point,” and added, “I have judged that the party must have its own center in order to flexibly pursue alliances and coalitions, and have been pushing forward with this in mind.”

She continued, “We need to be cautious about immediately merging into one party with the third bloc forces,” and added, “In the case of the People’s Party, it was formed by people with different ideas coming together, but we have seen that such a party could not sustain itself.”